1,640 research outputs found
Visualising product-service system business models
Copyright © 2014. Copyright in each paper in this conferenceâs proceedings is the property of
the author(s). Permission is granted to reproduce copies of these works for purposes relevant
to the above conference, provided that the author(s), source and copyright notice are included
on each copy. For other uses, including extended quotation, please contact the author(s).The paper addresses the issue of how to visualise innovative business models at various stages of the design and development process. The focus is on a particular type of business model, defined Product-Service Systems (PSSs), characterised by an integrated product-service offering, but can be generalised to other business model innovations. The paper presents a visualisation system based on a formalised business model ontology and a set of visualisation tools, and discusses how it can be used to enhance internal and external communication and improve dialogue and co-design activities inside the company and with external stakeholders
The Quantum-Mechanical Position Operator in Extended Systems
The position operator (defined within the Schroedinger representation in the
standard way) becomes meaningless when periodic boundary conditions are adopted
for the wavefunction, as usual in condensed matter physics. We show how to
define the position expectation value by means of a simple many-body operator
acting on the wavefunction of the extended system. The relationships of the
present findings to the Berry-phase theory of polarization are discussed.Comment: Four pages in RevTe
Strong-correlation effects in Born effective charges
Large values of Born effective charges are generally considered as reliable
indicators of the genuine tendency of an insulator towards ferroelectric
instability. However, these quantities can be very much influenced by strong
electron correlation and metallic behavior, which are not exclusive properties
of ferroelectric materials. In this paper we compare the Born effective charges
of some prototypical ferroelectrics with those of magnetic, non-ferroelectric
compounds using a novel, self-interaction free methodology that improves on the
local-density approximation description of the electronic properties. We show
that the inclusion of strong-correlation effects systermatically reduces the
size of the Born effective charges and the electron localization lengths.
Furthermore we give an interpretation of the Born effective charges in terms of
band energy structure and orbital occupations which can be used as a guideline
to rationalize their values in the general case.Comment: 10 pages, 4 postscript figure
Optical mapping of neuronal activity during seizures in zebrafish
Mapping neuronal activity during the onset and propagation of epileptic seizures can provide a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying this pathology and improve our approaches to the development of new drugs. Recently, zebrafish has become an important model for studying epilepsy both in basic research and in drug discovery. Here, we employed a transgenic line with pan-neuronal expression of the genetically-encoded calcium indicator GCaMP6s to measure neuronal activity in zebrafish larvae during seizures induced by pentylenetretrazole (PTZ). With this approach, we mapped neuronal activity in different areas of the larval brain, demonstrating the high sensitivity of this method to different levels of alteration, as induced by increasing PTZ concentrations, and the rescuing effect of an anti-epileptic drug. We also present simultaneous measurements of brain and locomotor activity, as well as a high-throughput assay, demonstrating that GCaMP measurements can complement behavioural assays for the detection of subclinical epileptic seizures, thus enabling future investigations on human hypomorphic mutations and more effective drug screening methods. Notably, the methodology described here can be easily applied to the study of many human neuropathologies modelled in zebrafish, allowing a simple and yet detailed investigation of brain activity alterations associated with the pathological phenotype
Decreasing the LHC impedance with a nonlinear collimation system
A two-stage nonlinear collimation system based on a pair of skew sextupoles is presented for the LHC.We show the details of the optics design and study the halo cleaning efficiency of such a system. This nonlinear collimation system would allow opening up collimator gaps, and thereby reduce the collimator impedance, which presently limits the LHC beam intensity. Assuming the nominal LHC beam at 7 TeV, the transverse coherent tune shifts of rigid-dipole coupled-bunch modes are computed for both the baseline linear collimation system and the proposed nonlinear one. In either case, the tune shifts of the most unstable modes are compared with the stability diagrams for Landau damping
A study of the influence of aerodynamic loads on the forces exchanged in a twistlock corner casting connection of flat-wagons
In this paper cross-wind effects on freight wagons are studied. A mathematical model of a freight train made up of a flat-car and one or two containers has been built defining the dynamical characteristics of the connection (twistlock-corner casting). Wind tunnel tests on a scaled model are then used to define the aerodynamic coefficients of the wagon, both in loaded and unloaded conditions, considering different trainset layouts. Wind forces are finally applied separately to the container and the flat-car in order to define the CWC of the wagon and to verify the maximum forces exchanged through the twistlock-corner casting connection. The results of the analysis showed that severe conditions with respect to the risk of rollover can be found as a result of a succession of empty and loaded wagons
Band alignment at metal/ferroelectric interfaces: insights and artifacts from first principles
Based on recent advances in first-principles theory, we develop a general
model of the band offset at metal/ferroelectric interfaces. We show that,
depending on the polarization of the film, a pathological regime might occur
where the metallic carriers populate the energy bands of the insulator, making
it metallic. As the most common approximations of density functional theory are
affected by a systematic underestimation of the fundamental band gap of
insulators, this scenario is likely to be an artifact of the simulation. We
provide a number of rigorous criteria, together with extensive practical
examples, to systematically identify this problematic situation in the
calculated electronic and structural properties of ferroelectric systems. We
discuss our findings in the context of earlier literature studies, where the
issues described in this work have often been overlooked. We also discuss
formal analogies to the physics of polarity compensation at LaAlO3/SrTiO3
interfaces, and suggest promising avenues for future research.Comment: 29 pages, 23 figure
Status report of the baseline collimation system of CLIC. Part II
Important efforts have recently been dedicated to the characterisation and
improvement of the design of the post-linac collimation system of the Compact
Linear Collider (CLIC). This system consists of two sections: one dedicated to
the collimation of off-energy particles and another one for betatron
collimation. The energy collimation system is further conceived as protection
system against damage by errant beams. In this respect, special attention is
paid to the optimisation of the energy collimator design. The material and the
physical parameters of the energy collimators are selected to withstand the
impact of an entire bunch train. Concerning the betatron collimation section,
different aspects of the design have been optimised: the transverse collimation
depths have been recalculated in order to reduce the collimator wakefield
effects while maintaining a good efficiency in cleaning the undesired beam
halo; the geometric design of the spoilers has been reviewed to minimise
wakefields; in addition, the optics design has been optimised to improve the
collimation efficiency. This report presents the current status of the the
post-linac collimation system of CLIC. Part II is mainly dedicated to the study
of the betatron collimation system and collimator wakefield effects.Comment: 25 pages, 13 figure
A real-space, rela-time method for the dielectric function
We present an algorithm to calculate the linear response of periodic systems
in the time-dependent density functional thoery, using a real-space
representation of the electron wave functions and calculating the dynamics in
real time. The real-space formulation increases the efficiency for calculating
the interaction, and the real-time treatment decreases storage requirements and
the allows the entire frequency-dependent response to be calculated at once. We
give as examples the dielectric functions of a simple metal, lithium, and an
elemental insulator, diamond.Comment: 17 pages, Latex, 5 figure
Dynamical-charge neutrality at a crystal surface
For both molecules and periodic solids, the ionic dynamical charge tensors
which govern the infrared activity are known to obey a dynamical neutrality
condition. This condition enforces their sum to vanish (over the whole finite
system, or over the crystal cell, respectively). We extend this sum rule to the
non trivial case of the surface of a semiinfinite solid and show that, in the
case of a polar surface of an insulator, the surface ions cannot have the same
dynamical charges as in the bulk. The sum rule is demonstrated through
calculations for the Si-terminated SiC(001) surface.Comment: 4 pages, latex file, 1 postscript figure automatically include
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